Hi all
Boy, am I enjoying this discussion! I did see that eBay 1915 badge and would agree that there is a speck of blue and a little bit of white enamel visible in the photos. The colour change in what
should be enameled tells you that it has spent a lot of its life protected by blue/ white enamel.
For what it is worth, I once picked up a couple of badges from a guy who did metal detecting. They weren't OWS badges but the original would have been enameled and these were no longer so. He thought that they had been put in a rubbish fire and then buried with the scraps.
I later saw an extremely rare badge for a New Zealand Anti-German League (
rare, rare, rare!). The detectorist later sold this "dug" example for a fabulous sum...
The "HMNZ Transports" badge does indeed follow the 1914 Admiralty pattern and exist in both enamel and a plain version. The theory is that the enamel one was for officers and the enamel hue is a lighter blue than you see on the British version. Anyone interested in an example could PM me for an example at a
much lower figure.
I was intrigued to see that a well-known website (
not eBay) is claiming that these badges were worn by individuals providing transport for the wounded (the ambulances being "transport"......).
Much as I respect the opinions of this site, I feel that this is an interesting theory for which I would like to see
definitive proof.